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July 29, 2004
"Folk process" described
Guthrie may be right that Pete Seeger was the first to coin the term "folk process", but the process of oral song-transmission through through variation and selection was being analyzed even before Pete Seeger's birth in 1919. And the process itself has been operating as long as there have been songs. The folk process was described, though not so named, by Cecil Sharp in 1907:
[Development of a folk song] involves the three principles of continuity, variation, and selection. (English Folk Song: Some Conclusions, London, 1907, p.16. Italics in original
Sharp's 1907 treatment contains errors and shortcomings, but the terminology of "continuity", "variation", and "selection" remains useful.
How this folk process might operate can be illustrated by examples from traditional ballads.
(seen at BoingBoing)
Posted by thdyck on July 29, 2004
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